What about follow-up care?

Patients who have completed radiation therapy need to continue, at least for a short while, some of the special care used during treatment.

If you experienced skin irritation during treatment, this could persist for several weeks after treatment is completed. You should continue to be gentle with the skin in the treatment area until it has healed. We recommend using a good skin moisturizer for local skin irritation.

You may find that you still need extra rest while your healthy tissues are rebuilding. Keep taking naps as you need to, and try to get extra sleep at night. It may take some time after treatment to regain your strength, so don’t try to resume a full schedule of activities right away.

If you followed a special diet during your treatment for nausea or diarrhea, you may need to continue the diet for a time after the treatments have stopped.

If you need any special instructions, your radiation oncologist will tell you when your treatments are ending.

Long term follow-up care
After your course of radiation treatment, you will have a schedule of follow-up visits to monitor your progress. During these clinic visits, your radiation oncologist will perform a physical examination and may order scans or other tests, if needed. If tests are scheduled, they will be explained to you.